


Zanaru Chronicles

by ReccoFanfiction



Category: Naruto
Genre: BAMF Nara Shikamaru, BAMF Uzumaki Naruto, Cannon Divergence, F/F, F/M, Head Cannon Zabuza Past, Kubikiribocho Head Cannon, M/M, NarutoxZabuza Attitude/Memory Mix, Politics, Smart Uzumaki Naruto, Yaoi, Yuri
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-01-26
Updated: 2017-02-02
Packaged: 2018-09-20 03:26:49
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 6
Words: 19,986
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/9473339
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/ReccoFanfiction/pseuds/ReccoFanfiction
Summary: Just as Zabuza died on the bridge, fate intervened. Instead of leaving the Wave with nothing more than a new nindō, Naruto gained the memories of Zabuza Momochi. What changes will come, with the Demon of the Mist as the largest influence on Naruto instead of Haku?





	1. The Mixing

**Author's Note:**

> Leave me your thoughts! I'd love to try to work some of them into the actual story.

**_Zanaru Chronicles: The Mixing_ **

_Summary:_ It wasn't something that was planned by either of them, but it would change the future. This time, it wasn't really Haku that had the biggest effect on Naruto, but rather, it was Zabuza. Only impression happens in the most unexpected of ways.

_Warnings:_ Cannon typical violence, homosexual relationships, language, and sexual content.

_Authour Note:_ First chapter of this Naruto story... I hadn't seen anything like this before. I was looking around the fandom looking for some 'character mix' that hasn't been done. Naruto and Sasuke, Naruto and Haku, Naruto and Kakashi, so many of them were already done. Zabuza however... Well I feel like it will be an interesting one. Now, my characters are super fucking OC, I understand that, and I give pretty much a shit less. I want most of them to be as in character as possible, but as I'm not the original writer and I'm not just typing this along as I watch the show,the majority of this will by my head cannon. Don't hate!

Chapters were be very varied in length. Some might be 500 words, others might be 8000+, I'll only put in as much makes sense. I won't force myself to write in something that is just fluff for no reason other than to get a word count.

Also on the more technical end, yes this type of story as been done about a billion times, if you don't want to read it, I won't force you. I literally can't, of course, but I wouldn't if I could. This is my person thoughts on a story I enjoy writing, so I want to know what you think, and I would love to hear opinions on where you think the story might go so that I can include things from you guys, but it's not needed.

This story will NOT go cannon-typical. Those are boring to read, but please keep in mind that Naruto is a very liniar story (At least to the best of my knowledge) so there are some things that will stay the same. I won't tell you what, but just know that there will be surprises in this story. Wouldn't want my dear readers to get bored after all. Now that the super huge AN is out of the way, please enjoy the story.

...

..

.

Zabuza was dying, blood dripping from his mouth as he looked toward his greatest failure. His student that died thinking that he was nothing more than a tool to his 'user'. He turned toward the blonde-haired person, the child who had fought so hard, had hidden strength and a way with words that could shake the strongest of wills. He had proved it against Zabuza himself, after all. Naruto Uzumaki…

"Hey brat… I want you to have this." Zabuza motioned with his head toward his blade, "Haku… they liked you a lot, and I guess … that means I can trust you to take care of my legacy…Bring me to them?"

Kakashi and Sakura were utterly silent in the aftermath of Zabuza's massacre, the death of an ally, and the town's people bringing themselves back up. The moment was powerful, and thus, it came onto Naruto to fulfill Zabuza's last wishes. Therefore, Naruto grabbed his new sword and hoisted it up in one arm, and leant down to help Zabuza over to Haku with the other. Naruto could feel his arms screaming in pain as the muscles continued to be stretched to the limit. Haku would want it though, so he pulled through, adding chakra he didn't have to stabilize himself.

Zabuza reached over, touching Haku's cheek softly, 'If I could do it over, I wouldn't make the same mistakes… Haku, you deserved better…."

Black

…

Naruto passed out.

It wasn't really a surprise, he'd used Kyuubi's chakra, fought an opponent far above his level, and he had only just recovered from chakra exhaustion before doing it. That however, was not the reasoning behind the young Uzumaki passing out. He had watched Zabuza die, next to one of the only people he could ever think to call his friend, and there was a sudden pain in his head. Too much information was flowing through his brain at once. Had it been anyone other than Naruto Uzumaki, the holder of the Nine Tails, they would have died from such an influx. Instead, his brain rewired itself to only call upon those memories when Naruto consciously made the decision. Perhaps with a little bit of secret help from a certain fox. Having a brain dead host was not exactly a good thing, after all.

When Naruto woke up, he was surrounded by familiar trees, held in a piggyback fashion by his lazy sensei, if the hair was the giveaway that Naruto needed.

The young Uzumaki scrambled for his thoughts, but his brain felt sore, for lack of a better way to put it.

"Good morning, my adorable little student. I don't suppose you know what caused you to pass out like that. You've been out for a few days." Kakashi greeted, feeling the subtle tensing of Naruto's muscles, and knowing that his student had awoken.

"I'm not really sure…" Naruto's brain itched for a moment, and he was remembering what happened at the bridge from two different perspectives, and he just knew that the perspective of Zabuza went deeper. Naruto could tell that there was a lot of new information that he could dig out from his brain now, but something felt off, "Where's my sword?"

It came out of his mouth before he even knew what exactly he was asking for.

"I put it into a sealing scroll for now, just until we get back to the village. Can't have my injured student hulling that piece of metal around."

"Like Naruto-baka could even use a sword like that. I bet he can't even pick it up!" Sakura harrumphed, not even looking in Naruto's direction.

For the first time ever, Naruto felt a stab of annoyance toward the girl. At the very least, she had been there when Naruto picked the blade up, and sure, he wasn't yet capable of doing so for any long period of time, or even capable of using it, but that didn't mean he couldn't hold it. He was not that weak, or at least, he was stronger than the pinkette fan-girl.

Naruto was almost shocked by his own thoughts of the matter. It probably had something to do with suddenly having Zabuza as a part of himself. If Naruto was to rate himself on a scale of ramen, he would say he was about 4/5 Naruto's, and 1/5 Zabuza bowls. He probably should not tell people what happened, it was bound to get him in some interrogation room—

More of Zabuza's thoughts leaking through. Naruto tweaked around with the opening in his brain and 'closed' it off so to speak. Dealing with it now was not advised. The second the memories were blocked, Naruto found feel his whole demeanor sort of, brighten up? His thoughts were not as dark, and certainly didn't include Gramp's grabbing him with intent to torture information out of him. His team was looking at him weirdly, Naruto wondered why that was, tilting his head toward the side, "What? I'm just thinking about all the ramen I'm going to eat when I get home."

He tilted his head to face away from his team, whistling 'innocently' and sweating heavily. The rest of the team gave him a disbelieving glace, but he ignored the looks, determined not to say what the real problem was.

Why should be potentially give away such a huge advantage –

The thoughts snuck through again. Naruto could feel himself frown slightly, that was certainly something that he was going to need to work on. He could just have himself slip into a whole other personality whenever he lost concentration. He'd have to go through the Zabuza part of him so that he was familiar with it, then once he knew it well enough, he could decide what to do about the whole new part of himself. If it became necessary, he could always seek advice from the old man. Despite what his Zabuza instincts were screaming, Naruto knew that the old man would never actually hurt him. The village soon came into view, and Naruto could feel warmth spread through him at the view.

"Alright Naruto, I'll drop you off at your place and leave the sword there as well. I'll go debrief the Hokage by myself, you all deserve the rest." Sensei looked specifically toward Sasuke as he spoke, but the words rang true for all the Genin. This mission had tired even Naruto after all. So, once Kakashi was sure that they understood, he started to walk toward Naruto's apartment.

"I'm sorry about your friend, Haku. We gave him and Zabuza a proper burial before we left." Kakashi finally spoke, his voice grave in a way that Naruto hadn't ever heard before.

"I'll just have to live up to both of their expectations." Naruto spoke, determination hard in his voice, but cracking. The past few days had been stressful, and he was still, in so many ways, just a child.

Truthfully, Naruto was surprised that Kakashi even bothered to mention it. The man had not seemed to want to get close to his students before, and even now, Naruto could practically feel how uncomfortable he was. Considering just how good Naruto's sensei usually was at hiding his emotions, it went a long way in telling Naruto just how new or awkward the situation was to his sensei.

"In this ninja work, we all lose our precious people… The sad reality is that we are tools to be used, and sometimes these uses cause death. Zabuza and Hake were a tragic case…" Kakashi continued, but still seemed weirdly awkward.

"Are you trying to lecture me Kakashi-sensei?" Naruto stated shrewdly, "No one is just a tool, and if that is how this ninja world works, then I'll change it. Especially now that I carry the weight of Zabuza and Haku, I'll carve my own path, and I'll keep my word, that's my ninja way."

Naruto could not see it, but his teacher was smiling, "I'm sure you will my cute little student. Only after you get a lot of rest though."

They reached the apartment and Kakashi walked Naruto over to the bed and laid him down, pulling out his scroll and poofing the sword into existence, leaning it against Naruto's bed, "We won't have a team meeting until two weeks from now. Heal, mentally, physically, and emotionally from all the blows you took. I wouldn't want my cute little student to fall behind the others, would I?"

With that, Kakashi teasingly poked Naruto's nose before disappearing.

Maybe that guy wasn't that bad of a teacher after all, still, that was no excuse for the way he treated Naruto as if he was a baby. Nor did it excuse his lateness… Or those books… Or that weird mask… Moreover, that hair cut of his…

Still, finally alone and lying in his bed, Naruto knew that he would not be able to get to sleep until he thought about the current situation he found himself in. Having Zabuza's memories was not something that either of them had planned on, but ultimately this was a chance that could not be turned down even if Naruto wanted to. He now had the memories of a Jounin at his disposal, ready to integrate into himself. So, Naruto opened up that little hole and took a little peak inside.

Blood, training, hard work, blood, training, blood, blood, blood…. Blood…blood…. So much blood.

Naruto came out of the memories with a horrified gasp, tears running down his cheeks. This clearly wasn't going to be as easy as he'd hopped. Those memories that were inside of them, it wasn't Zabuza's whole life, but snippets of it. Dark things, lessons hard learned - important skills that were beaten into him… So maybe their personalities should leak over, it certainly brought Naruto's IQ to a higher point, and the blonde knew that… but those memories? Naruto was definitely sure he didn't want those to be him. Maybe when he needed the training, or he needed to be reminded if he was making a similar mistake… However, those memories didn't belong here, not to Naruto; they belonged with the dead Zabuza.

Except… Naruto was in some ways, Zabuza himself now. At least, he was all that remained of the man.

No, Naruto had said he would live up to Zabuza and Haku, and he would do just that. He would take on these memories, they would become his, and he would continue to become strong enough to tackle his goal.

Just….

After a good nights rest.

**R &R**


	2. The Memories

A night of rest did Naruto well. When he woke up, over all he just felt a lot more stable than before. Nothing was leaking through the ‘link’ to Zabuza’s memories, but the personally that they made together had ossified – If that made any sense.  He understood his faults and personality better now, but with that understanding, he also gained an utter lack of caring toward what other people thought of his less than desirable traits. Something from Zabuza, undoubtedly.

He was still a good deal the same, impulsive, quick to anger, weird eating habits, determined, perverted, and true to his word. This had to do with the fact that Zabuza was actually quite similar to Naruto in these aspects.

Which left the question, what was different?

Naivety, most of which had been stripped from Naruto at a young age, but what remained, that was now gone. He was more suspicious, observant, and more prone to thinking things through, despite his urge to act so impulsively. Over all he had been tempered down, matured, darkened… However, Naruto could admit that it was probably for the best. Having a more honest view on life would help him achieve his goals, and protect his precious people.

Precious people… Haku…

A strong feeling of guilt ran through Naruto at the name. His own guilt, he couldn’t save one of his first friends, the person that taught him one of the most important things in his life. This was combined with another force of guilt, Zabuza’s. In so many ways, the man felt horrible about how he’d treated Haku. He raised his apprentice horribly, made them think they were a tool, and then treated them like one. Cut through their dying body in an attempt to get to Kakashi and save his own life. He didn’t deserve the loyalty that he’d gotten from Haku.

_That wasn’t my choice! Haku was the one that choose to love me like that… I ought try to own up to that now, instead of feeling guilty over it_ , Naruto thought to himself, not even realizing he was referring to himself as Zabuza anymore, taking the dead-mans actions and feelings as his own.

Now all that was left to think about was the matter of the memories that he now had, deeper in his brain. They were his now, he WAS Zabuza now, and he had no right to be that without accepting it fully. Now was the matter of how to go through them, integrate the memories. If Naruto was going to do this properly, he should start with the earliest memories and build up, to gain understanding before the bloodshed. If he were to start at the bloodshed and not understand, then he would grow to resent what was now a piece of himself that couldn’t be denied. Therefore, instead of getting up from his bed and preparing for the day, Naruto stayed lying down, staring at his ceiling. A sigh escaped him as he closed his eyes and opened his mind, searching for the earliest –

…

Zabuza stared out through the mist, a smile on his face and determination set in his mind. Beside him was his one and only friend, “One day, I’m going to become strong enough to protect this place, to make it safe for people with bloodlines. Our Kage won’t life forever, and I’m definitely going to make this place safe for you.” 

His friend was of a rare bloodline, and the Kage had utterly obliterated the rest of his family. His family had protected him by sending him away when they started to get a bad feeling. Their bloodline gave them abnormally sharp instincts, able to sense rather well when their life was in danger.  Still, no one with a bloodline was safe.

“It won’t work… It’s hopeless to fight against it.” 

“But you do! You are still alive, and you hide yourself, fighting to live. If you can fight to survive like this, than I can fight to change this world. I’m going to become Mizukage and protect the people here that can’t protect themselves!” Zabuza stated, staring at his friend in full determination. He wouldn’t take no for an answer.

His friend just stared at him, “You’re hopeless Zabu-baka. Somehow though… You’re my friend, and if you say you can do it than I believe in you.”

Zabuza didn’t think his mouth could smile so wide.

…

Naruto came out of the memory with a smile on his face, and tears in his eyes. The emotions in the memory were so strong, so warm, something that Naruto hadn’t ever felt before. A true friend, one that believed in him and in his dream, something he never would have thought possible. Zabuza was lucky, no, Naruto was lucky too. Now that he had those memories, that friend was his, even if the friend never knew it himself. If Naruto ever met him, he would protect that friend with all he had.

And his word was his promise.

Yet somehow, the thought left him weirdly bittersweet. Emotions leaking over that Naruto didn’t understand, but suddenly itched to; he needed to know what happened to his friend. His friend that deserved far more than the life, he’d had in the ruined mist.

…

Tears ran down Zabuza’s face as he stared at the broken corpse that was once his friend. It was brutal, legs, arms, head, all detached from his torso, and suddenly Zabuza couldn’t even remember his friends name. It hurt too much to remember, all that mattered now was the promises that he’d made. He had to live up to the potential that his friend had seen in him… The same friend that he couldn’t protect.

So Zabuza made his way to the Ninja Academy. Today was the day they were holding the exams, and although he wasn’t even enrolled yet, he was going to pass. Nothing would stop him, as determined as he was.

“I’m going to enter.” He told the instructor, who glared at him and reached out a hand to pull him away from the ring of students. 

Instead, Zabuza pulled out a short sword and just cut the proctors hand off at the wrist. Well he was nursing his lose, Zabuza hopped into the ring of students, all of which were now at attention, seeing what had happened to their instructor. 

“I’m assuming you know how this test goes. You’re all going to be paired off to kill the weaker one. So, since I’m not enrolled, I think a more serious display is needed to show just how worth it accepting me as a ninja will be. So, I’m going to kill, all of you.” Zabuza spoke, his eyes dry, utterly calm, and a smile on his face. 

The kids all looked disturbed, because that was what they were. They still hadn’t killed anyone, they were kids. Zabuza on the other hand, wasn’t, not anymore. His only friend was dead because he wasn’t there to protect him. The moment that friend had died, he was no longer a kid. Thus, the massacre began, and all the students fell within minutes. Blood pooled on the ground, an even as Zabuza gained deep cuts and injuries, he fought on ruthlessly, with a burning need to feel SOMETHING, anything…

It didn’t work, and all the kids were on the floor, bodies pulled apart. 

“You….” The protector said, looking about ready to attack Zabuza himself. 

Instead someone else walked in, someone with an undeniable air, “Don’t touch him. He’s proved himself worthy of becoming a ninja… Just so, we’re clear though, you will follow my every order just as all ninja. Another outburst like this? It will not be allowed. You will learn to control yourself.” 

Before Zabuza even fully understood what was happening, he was handed a forehead protector and was joining the ninja corps. 

…

Naruto had never felt anger so strongly in his life. He wanted to go to mist and tear everything down, destroy everyone in the city, and burn it. They would deserve no less, for killing his only friend, someone that had only been trying to survive. All because he had blood that was mildly different, and the bloodline wasn’t even exceptionally powerful at that. The anger was causing his blood to boil, and he wasn’t sure if that was his own chakra or the Kyuubi’s at this point.

As he attempted to calm down, Naruto looked at a few more of the parallels that Zabuza and himself presented. Both of them determined to become the leader of their village.

The differences were not very present. Naruto didn’t know anymore, whether he was the type of person to slaughter like that. If he’d been in those circumstances, would he have chosen any different? The answer was probably no, even if he’d like to think he would be the better person. Those kids hadn’t done anything to Zabuza, or Naruto, but they were voluntarily joining it, knowing damn well, what it was going to do. Chances were that most of them weren’t planning on changing everything like he was. If anything, they were worshipers of the current regimen. They were taught to be like that, undoubtedly. Naruto knew this, because the academy at the leaf was similar, it taught more values, but so much of it was about pride for their nation.

Brainwashing.

It was all so confusing, but somehow Naruto could accept the fact that he had murdered those children, although he wasn’t completely understanding of why. The logic was there, but it was more about what he was feeling. Like it was forgivable for reasons beyond his grasp.

…

He felt exhausted; he always did ever since he started his shinobi career. He was trained into the ground by his ‘sensei’ member of the mists special swordsman group. Somehow, though, he knew that his sensei cared for him. All the training was followed by, ‘I know you have a lot of potential, you can take more than this’ or even during the training he would say things like, ‘You can take it Zabu-chan, because you clearly have something to work toward. Only the strong people do.’ 

Zabuza made sure to never mention just what his goals were, he didn’t trust the man with them.

“One day, you’re going to take my place on this squad. When you are strong enough, you will take this blade from me, and the first blood it tastes in your hand will be mine. I will die knowing that I did right by my Kage, creating such a talented student.” The man had once said.

So Zabuza knew he couldn’t allow himself to care for the man, despite the fact that he cared for Zabuza in some way. 

Training with him went on for years, and the improvement that Zabuza showed was vast. When he was around twelve, after a training session, both sensei and apprentice were seated next to each other, eating a meal before they would start their second training session of the day, and Zabuza’s sensei finally spoke up with an interesting fact, “This sword that I wield, it’s known as the Decapitating Executioner's Blade, the Mizukage will send me to do most of the executions, because the more blood the blade gets, the stronger it is, the easier it cuts. It feeds on the blood of its victims to become stronger.”

Zabuza tensed. 

“Decapitating Executioner’s Blade… Sounds like the kind of weapon you’d use to take someone’ limbs off.” He kept his voice deceptively light.

“That is true. The primary use for the sword is taking off large body parts, heads, arms, and legs, anything that will permanently cripple the opponent. The Demon of the Mist, of all people, wouldn’t fear such a weapon.” His sensei practically teased him, not knowing the emotions he’d just awoken. 

“Seems to me, that you don’t use that sword for the right reasons… At least, I’d say using the sword to kill a defenseless kid is the wrong reason.” 

Zabuza didn’t wait for a reply, he just attacked. 

The rage was almost blinding, but he knew that it wasn’t something that could even cause him to be punished, so what did it matter. The process of surpassing his sensei meant that he was supposed to kill his teacher. It was expected of him – If he had moral reasons for it, the people in charge wouldn’t care to know. With his reasoning’s safe, he allowed the rage to take him over for the first time in years, carrying him to the same heights as last time he used it, to slaughter hundreds of students. 

When the rage faded, just as his sensei had predicted, he was holding the Executioner’s blade, and it was coated in his own teacher’s blood. 

A fitting ending for a man such as him. 

...

There had been a point in Naruto’s life, where he’d thought he had it hard. No one around to protect him from the villagers, no one to love him, nothing. Now Naruto knew that in some ways, he had it pretty damn good. He wasn’t raised in the Mist, wasn’t raised as a weapon that was intended to slaughter… Instead, he was in the Leaf’s Academy learning to use teamwork, the Will of Fire, and useless jutsu.

The appreciation that Naruto felt toward his village made him all the more determined to protect it. This village would never come to what the Mist had - Naruto simply wouldn’t allow it.

The relief that he’d felt once the man had died by his blade was something that almost worried him though. When he’d killed his own sensei, it felt too good. It made sense, considering the fact the man had clearly enough killed the only friend that Naruto had, but still… It felt almost wrong to be so happy at his death. Ultimately, Naruto was raised to be far more moral than Zabuza was, so that made sense. Even with their ‘mixing’ he was still 4/5th’s Naruto. It wasn’t that Naruto regretted killing the man, but he just wished there was a more professional feeling to it.

Suddenly, Naruto sat up on his bed and pulled his sword onto his lap, running his hand over the dull. He could practically feel the blood pooling on it, dripping onto the floor. How many people had he killed using this sword? Probably hundreds, considering his previous kill record before he even became one of the elites.

“I guess if I end up wanting to change the legacy of the blade, I can.” Naruto spoke to himself, determination settling in his tone.

To change something, one must first understand it. Naruto continued to lay a hand on his sword as he closed his eyes, intending to call up the memories of using it.

…

Zabuza as an ANBU member, using the Kirigakure no Jutsu and the silent killing technique in conjunction with the Kubikiribōchō to take out dozens of enemies that the Kage had pointed him toward. Solo missions, again and again, killing more and more. It was okay though, because with each kill his sword remained strong with the conviction and righteousness of his goal. All things done were so that Zabuza could be stronger, strong enough to take down their Kage and create a better Mist.

…

Zabuza fighting his fellow Seven Swordsman of the Mist, and he could beat them all, except one. The stupid fish face was far too skilled for him, shaving literal pieces of Kubikiribōchō every time they clashed together. It wouldn’t remain that way though, because one day Zabuza would rise above that. 

…

Zabuza could have sworn he was ready, but the attempt had failed. His sword was in tatters, only the very handle and the barest of the actual blade remained. Of course, Zabuza knew that the blade would fix itself, but it represented more than just failure, but the utter broken promise that he had made with his first friend. He had failed, his one chance to take the bastard down, and he failed. Strong as he was, there was no way that Zabuza would be able to take down an army all by himself. That was what the Mizukage had after all, a whole army.

The blade started to regenerate itself, almost as though recognizing the conviction that came back to its user.

“If he has an army… Well I guess I’ll just have to get my own.” A devious, dark smile crossed Zabuza’s face, as he continued to hide away from the ANBU that were pursuing him. Once he lost them, the real work could begin. 

…

Naruto opened his eyes with a snap, but a smile was on his face this time. Times were difficult and painted with blood, but he’d been wrong – Naruto had never been happier to be wrong. The blade didn’t need a different legacy, the one that it already had was more than enough. It was used to protect, to forge ahead in a goal that was more than worthy. A goal that Naruto shared, despite the fact it was now for another village. With every memory of Zabuza’s, Naruto just felt himself loving the Leaf more.

His reasoning wasn’t childish recognition anymore, if it really ever was.

The rest of the memories would come, but Naruto knew that there were more important things to be doing on a day like this. He needed to get himself prepared for training. He’d seen all he needed to see, he knew that the new part of him was a worthy being, and now it was time to live up to that, like he’d promised himself at the start of it all.

This meant that he needed to figure out just what he needed to get and do before the real training began.

There were two weeks before the team would be getting back to mission work, which meant he needed to at least correct his form and begin training before that. He also needed different clothing, because the jump suit was just plain stupid. Naruto himself had never really liked the damn thing, he liked orange, but the jump suit was all the villagers would let him by. Now he could just use the Transformation Jutsu to sneak into the store and buy clothing that he actually liked.

So clothes, weights, chakra paper, and books or scrolls in all the subjects that he would be relearning. To cover up the fact that he had memories of a different life.

Naruto was almost shocked that he felt the need to cover it up, but it was just so damn personal now. Why should he have to explain to people that he was Zabuza and Naruto? They wouldn’t understand anyway, the way that Naruto and Zabuza mixed together just wasn’t something that someone else COULD understand.

They were so alike, but so different.

Maybe in some ways Sasuke could understand, if he were to merge with someone with a dark past as well. Until that happened though, Naruto vowed to keep other people out of his damn business regarding his own damn head.

Naruto quickly got up and showered, ate, and got dressed. It took less than a half hour, considering the speed he was going. In all honesty, Naruto felt fully recovered, but he was beyond happy for the fact the team had so long off. He without a doubt needed that time, even if it was for something more constructive than simply recovery. As soon as that thought left his head, he went through the hand signs for the transformation jutsu, and was out of his dingy little apartment just as quickly as he’d gotten ready.

…

It was nice, going around the village and not being glared at by the passerby’s. It made Naruto feel determined as well, but he could dwell on the strength of his convictions later. Now there was a more pressing matter, his wardrobe.

Naruto knew that the Zabuza part of him was the main pushing factour for the new outfit. Zabuza was actually surprisingly vain about his looks, and he had right to be, as when he was Zabuza he’d been damn good looking. Naruto could only hope that he grew up to be every bit as good looking as his past self had been. He quickly shook those thoughts out of his head and walked into the clothing store.

He was actually looking for something quite specific.

He wanted something similar to the outfit that he’d died in; only, he wanted it to be black and orange, instead of black and blue. The orange would need to be a burnt looking shade, so that it wouldn’t affect stealth, but it was Naruto’s favourite colour, and it WOULD be included in the outfit. Moreover, the colour would through off the overall look of Mist that the outfit gave off. Leg and arm warmers like that were very popular in Mist, but the colour orange – not so much.

Once the outfit was complete, and paid for, Naruto put it on and threw out the jump suit. He just did it in the changing room, because there was no way he was wearing that jumpsuit for a moment longer.

He even put his now black forehead protector at an angle atop his head.

Getting the rest of the supplies was actually pretty easy. They were typical ninja supplies, and all ninja were allowed into the basic library after they became Genin. Some higher-level stuff was sectioned off, but it was not very typical for ninja to even go in there. Instead, they had their sensei to teach them, so there was rarely a need. Sakura was actually one of the few Genin to bother using the building. Now Naruto was included on that list. He took out books on Kenjutsu, Taijutsu, Tactics, Ninjutsu, and Genjutsu, anything that he would need to hide the fact he was actually learning mainly from memories rather than honestly learning from the books.

When he got home, it was already getting dark. It had taken hours to go through memories that made Zabuza – well – Zabuza.

“I can actually do this…” Naruto suddenly whispered to himself, one of his typical grins spreading across his face, “Thank you Zabuza… Haku… I never would have gotten this chance without you…”

Because without the memories, and the sword, where would he be? Probably going down to Sasuke’s place to foolishly ask for a spar, or to Sakura’s to ask for a date, or to Kakashi’s to ask for training the man had no intention of truly giving his students at the moment.

Instead, he had a real chance.

One that he would not waste.

 


	3. The Training

When it came to Konohagakure, there was a lot of readily available training space. Typically, each ninja or team was assigned a place; all you had to do was ask for it. There was actually a building where you could schedule in time for training, and there was pretty much always an open spot. This had to do with the fact that ninja were always in and out of the village for missions, so they cancelled their training slot a lot. So, Naruto got dressed in his new outfit, grabbed his books, and stuck his sword on his back using chakra, rather lucky it had worked, and went down to the training fields.

He had put himself down for hours of training in this specific spot. It had a pool of water, so that Naruto could work on chakra control.

If he wanted to use any of the jutsu he now had floating around in his head, he would need to be able to control his chakra better. If he did not, than he’d just over power all the jutsu. If anything were good about the meld as far as the Zabuza part of him could consider, it would be the sheer amount of chakra he now had. It definitely occurred to Naruto just how much more chakra he had than a normal person, before he didn’t have something to accurately measure himself against, but now that he did… The amount of chakra that he had was almost sickening. Not that it was a bad thing, but the parts of him that knew just how much of the chakra he was wasting… It just felt wrong.

It was something that he could start to fix, right now.

To start, now that Naruto’s IQ was above 50, he noticed that the Shadow Clones that he had been using returned memory. This was incredibly useful for training. The Mist did not have anything similar, but he certainly wasn’t above abusing the ability.

The best way to utilize them would be to have the clones do chakra exercises and jutsu well Naruto did Taijutsu and Kenjutsu. For now, jutsu was out of the question. The clones would probably just end up blowing themselves up if they tried Suiton jutsu at the moment they would just blow themselves up. Therefore, mastering the tree walking exercise was necessary. After the clones had that down, practice water walking could start. Of course, considering how much information he got smashed into his brain not that long ago, it probably wasn’t a good idea to make more than five clones for something like this. In fact, it probably wasn’t EVER a good idea.

“Kage Bunshin no Jutsu” Naruto atoned, his fingers in the cross sign, creating five clones, “I’m assuming you already know what to do.”

They looked toward their boss wish exasperation, even borderline dislike. Which made sense, considering they ARE Naruto, and they ARE being sent to do the grunt work so to speak.

Once Naruto saw them starting the exercise, he opened the Kenjutsu book, but instead of reading it, made his eyes do their typical squinty look. No one could tell if he had his eyes closed or not when he did it, so it was the perfect cover. After that, he went into his mind, digging around for the kata he would need to do for the sword. Kubikiribōchō was practically begging to be used. The second he went into his mind, he could see the kata that he used to do in his past life. The ease of information gathering from his past life was increasing. This was likely do to practice, and having completely accepted that part of himself.

With a light sigh, Naruto stood up and grasped his sword with his dominate hand. He swung it in front of him, wincing at the pull on his muscles.

It was clear that this wouldn’t be an easy training session. He would have to practically destroy his body to get it anywhere close to the level that he’d been at his past life. Hell, when he was Zabuza he was FAR beyond this level at the age of twelve.

Thinking pathetically on his past skill wouldn’t change anything though; instead, he would need to look forward.

So, Naruto went forward doing basic chops and slashes with his sword. He did reps with them, intending to build up the muscle. When his dominate arm got tired, he switched to the other arm to let himself heal. Doing more complicated kata could wait until after he was actually able to wield the sword with one hand effectively.

“One… Two… Three… Four” Naruto counted to himself as he lost himself in the rhythm of it all.

As he did the reps, he thought to the style he’d created. It was actually something he’d created himself. It wasn’t easy to find a fighting style using such a huge sword, and he killed his sensei before the style he knew could be taught. It was actually created to be surprisingly fluid, not something you would predict from sword fighting with such a huge weapon. It was meant to smoothly transition which hands were being used, cutting through the air with the sharp side, and never the blunt, keeping momentum of the blade going to build speed. It was actually based of Bōjutsu styles.

“One of you, dispel.” Naruto suddenly ordered to his clones, of course, they used Jan Ken Pon to decide which would pop themselves.

The progress was undeniable. The clone was actually able to stand upside down on a branch without movement.

“All right, the rest of you go start on water walking.”

This was going to be a rather painstaking process, wasn’t it?

…

Five straight hours of training would have driven anyone other than Naruto Uzumaki to the hospital with major injuries. Kyuubi was clearly paying his rent however, because even with all the muscle training he was barely sore as he walked home. He also had a whole slew of memories from the clones, but they all got to the point where they could at least stand sparingly on the water.

As he was walking, a little surprise started to follow him.

A square box with the eyes cut out.

Naruto withheld the urge to roll his eyes, but there was a fond feeling tickling the back of his mind.

“Konohamaru, your stealth is shit.” Naruto plainly stated, and the box was thrown away dramatically to revel his little ‘apprentice’ wearing goggles similar to the way Naruto had less than a year ago.

“Don’t be so mean boss; I’ll catch up to you in no time!” He said it with a huge grin, “Want to play ninja with me?”

Playing ninja was a pretty typical thing in this village. Naruto himself had never been invited to a game of it before this very moment. He was too hardened in his emotions after his experience as Zabuza to show just how touched he was, but he still smiled at Konohamaru.

“I have a better idea. Instead of just playing the game, we can make it even more of a training experience. We’ll play hide and seek, but after we practice walking silently.” Naruto would have patted himself on the back for the idea, would it not have looked so weird. He needed to gain back the muscle memory in walking silently if he was ever going to be able to use the silent killing technique again. Konohamaru looked ecstatic at the thought.

“I’m ready to learn boss!” He suddenly looked suspicious toward Naruto, “Don’t think that I’ll be so grateful that I hand the Hokage position over to you though.”

“I’d never think that Kono-chan, now here’s what we’ll do.”

A few minutes later, they were walking out of a convenience store with protein bars. Not exactly, the ramen that Naruto had been hoping for, but the time with his little ‘apprentice’ would be worth it. What he was about to do some what reminded him of training a young Haku. Despite not being anywhere near as immature as Kono-chan was, Haku was still a kid. The memories remained bittersweet, but Naruto was glad that he had them.

“Alright, when it comes to walking silently, you are going to want to place your foot down before you place weight on it. To be very silent, you’ll want to not put your whole foot down at anytime, instead staying on the side of your foot. Another good technique is to match your footstep sounds to the person or animal that you’re following. If you need to be fast, the best way is to watch your terrain carefully for a place where you won’t step on anything that makes sound. After you have your patch, run on the balls of your feet.”

As Naruto spoke, he physically showed Konohamaru what he was talking about. The little student was taking the words very seriously, which was good, because Naruto would need the practice.

“Alright, this is how the game goes. I go into the forest, five seconds later, you come in and try to find me. My objective is to get behind you without being seen, and poke the back of your neck. If I do that, I win. If you catch me at any point, you win.”

“I’ll definitely catch you boss, kore!”

Was that verbal tick something he picked up from me? Naruto thought silently, before getting himself in a ready position.

Then he ran.

He carefully thought of every step that he made, making sure to keep his foot positioning correct. Finding a good place to hide, Naruto took the chance to try suppressing his impressive amount of chakra. It was likely trying to rein in a bull – undoubtedly; he’d need to master at LEAST basic chakra control before he was able to actually manage it. Naruto was very determined to be able to use stealth like he had in his past life. Every ninja worth their shit should be able to be stealthy. A belief that had carried over from his past, he was sure. Still, it took someone high Chunin level to sense chakra, so it wouldn’t be an issue in this little game with Kono-chan.

It wasn’t.

Naruto won all the rounds of the game, but Konohamaru was actually becoming quickly more skilled with stealth. It warmed Naruto in a weird way, seeing someone he was teaching improving like that. It wasn’t like he liked teaching, he didn’t… But he could appreciate a job well done.

Yeah, that was it.

It was getting dark when Naruto and Konohamaru decided to stop playing. Naruto decided to walk the kid home, just to make sure. Seeing as how he was the Hokage’s Grandson, he probably had a few ANBU around him to protect him, but that didn’t mean Naruto should just let the kid that was currently his responsibly go home alone.

It was kids like Konohamaru that deserved a better future, one without war, or at least, one where they were untouched by it. It was great in the Leaf when compared to the Mist, but that didn’t mean Naruto couldn’t make it better when he became Hokage. He would, after all.

Not anytime soon.

First, he needed to get to a decent Genin level after all.

Twelve more days before the team would meet back up. If things continued at this pace, Naruto was not worried all that much about not being able to protect himself on the next mission. He was quickly gaining back his abilities. It would be enough, because Naruto would make it be enough. He had a kid like Konohamaru looking up to him after all. That was a lot to live up to.


	4. The Meeting

It had been a busy few weeks.

That was the simplest way of putting it.

Naruto had trained himself into the ground in ways that would kill a lesser ninja. Kyuubi was more than a lifesaver, for the first time in Naruto’s life, the fox that caused him so many issues was actually a tool. Something useful instead of something that constantly hurt Naruto. He was able to actually wield his Kubikiribōchō in a regular length battle. Even if the battle was between him and his own clones. That didn’t even bring to attention the amount of progress Naruto obtained the second that he was able to water walk accurately. It took a few days, but once water walking was finished, Naruto had clones work on more difficult chakra control exercises, like senbon sticking, walking up waterfalls, and such. He had three clones working on different types of chakra control, and another two working on gaining back several jutsu. The most important one being Kirigakure no Jutsu.

Kirigakure no Jutsu was quickly mastered, well, perhaps not mastered. It was almost a good thing to have too much chakra in this case. It made the jutsu bigger and thicker… It was just the fact that Naruto did not MEAN to make it so big and thick that was almost disturbing.

Going from being able to control your chakra incredibly well, to having none of that control, was exceptionally disorienting.

The only thing that Naruto neglected was Genjutsu and Taijutsu. When it came to Genjutsu, he could not practice any until after his chakra control became better, so there was nothing for that. In Taijutsu, well, it was difficult to find time to practice both Taijutsu and Kenjutsu, so Naruto made the choice. Besides, Kenjutsu undoubtedly helps form your Taijutsu even when you did not specifically go about training it.

Regardless – Naruto was quite happy with how well he was coming along.

The only mildly upsetting thing about today was the fact that the team meeting was today. Naruto didn’t really want to attend; it was an interruption to his training that he wished could be avoided. It would be nice to have the whole year for just training so that he could catch up to a reasonable level. He didn’t have that courtesy though, in all likelihood, the moment that all team members were present, Kakashi would be assigning them some D-Rank mission.

…

Naruto was the first member at their traditional meeting spot. He quickly decided that he had better things to do than waste his time waiting a few hours for Kakashi to show up. Instead, he summoned some Shadow Clones and set them off, three to practice chakra control, one to practice the water bullet technique - Suiton: Suidan no Jutsu, and another one to practice the more advanced dragon version - Suiton: Suiryūdan no Jutsu.

The real Naruto took out his sword and started to practice one of the more difficult kata’s he had. It was designed to never allow the blade to stop movement, keeping the momentum going throughout the whole thing.

It was actually rather fun, you could just keep doing it for hours.

It made sense that it was almost a game, considering Naruto had come up with it when he was twelve.

Naruto could hear one of his teammates approaching about thirty minutes later. He continued to swing his sword, but switched the direction he was looking to see Sasuke staring at him in mild shock.

“Dope… Why the change?” He seemed to regain himself, looking his teammate up and down.

Naruto gave his almost-friend a toothy grin, panting lightly as he continued the kata even when talking, “Thought it was time to take things a bit more seriously. Besides, I look totally badass now.”

It was nice to be more childish, not dwelling totally on training as he had been. The air between Sasuke and Naruto was more… friendly? The blonde was reminded of his only friend back in Mist whenever he looked at Sasuke now, but he wouldn’t make the same mistake with Sasuke as he had back at in the Mist.

Sasuke didn’t say anything in return, but raised a skeptic eyebrow toward his blonde teammate.

Sakura came soon after.

“Naruto-baka, don’t swing that thing around like that! You’ll hurt someone!” She exclaimed, interrupting the friendly air that had fallen between the Uchiha and Uzumaki.

Naruto fought the urge to sigh. He knew Sakura after all; she was nearly as stubborn as Naruto himself was. Somehow, though, Naruto couldn’t help but look down on her. She didn’t take being a ninja seriously, she was a loud-mouthed brat about it, and she hadn’t been through something hard her whole life. Still, if she were trying to get him to stop, the fan girl would be incredibly annoying until she got her way.

Naruto slowed the momentum of his blade until a stop. His arms felt tired, muscles pulled and stretched considering the flexible ability you needed for the kata wasn’t something this body was used too, but the feeling started to fade almost immediately.

“I know what I’m doing Sakura, I’ve been practicing for the past few weeks after all.” He cast an annoyed glance toward the girl, before turning back to his male teammate, “Want to spar with me?”

Sasuke normally would have turned him down. It was no fun fighting against someone that you knew you could easily beat. However, he looked Naruto over again, the changes were apparent in the blonde. The change in attitude was also striking, even toward Sakura. He looked a lot like Zabuza actually, not only in clothing, but also in demeanor. He just looked… Lighter than the now passed swordsman, “Alright.”

“Just Taijutsu though.” Naruto cautioned as they moved toward the grassed training area, Sasuke following after.

“You don’t want to try that new sword of yours in a spar?” Sasuke asked, hiding his incredulous tone, barely. Such restrain really wasn’t like Naruto, Sasuke would have thought he’d practically be exploding with desire to show off his new ‘skill’ should it even exist.

Then again, Sasuke didn’t know about the blade in question like Naruto did. Kubikiribōchō was a blade that bathed in blood of hundreds of shinobi, and it was hungry. In fact, the blade was literally hungry – it ate the blood of the enemies to strengthen itself. Like most of the blades the Seven Swordsman of the Mist used, Kubikiribōchō was somewhat sentient, and its power wasn’t what people typically assumed. It wasn’t wrong to say it was practically indestructible, using the blood of its fallen enemies to retain itself, but that also wasn’t the full truth. If the blade liked its master, and didn’t like the opponent, it would force the death of the opponent.

How did the sword do this?

Kubikiribōchō had drunk so much blood over the years, became so hungry, that if it wanted… Well… The sword could literally attract blood from its opponents. It took a massive amount of chakra from the swords master, in addition to also sucking up the master’s blood as well – though a lesser amount. It was something the master could stop, but sometimes the sword could over ride that, if only for a few moments. Kubikiribōchō didn’t like to lose.

It just wasn’t worth chancing, using Kubikiribōchō in a friendly spar. Sometimes it had a bad attitude, even as, Zabuza he’d never used his sword in a friendly spar. Well, unless it was against his fellow Seven Swordsman members.

“I’ve been practicing Kenjutsu a lot lately, but I’ve neglected my Taijutsu. So it’s more than just a spar, it’s also a training opportunity.” Naruto explained, leaving the whole explanation over Kubikiribōchō out of it. Having to explain how he’d gotten that knowledge was just troublesome, and would undoubtedly lead to the discovery of the memories Naruto gained from Zabuza. A road he’d rather not go down.

Sasuke looked at Naruto considering, before just giving him an almost condensing look, “No matter how much training you do, you’ll never be able to touch me, Dope.”

“Teme!” But instead of anger that Naruto used to feel at these little interactions, he could feel his mouth spread into an over-enthusiastic grin. When he was Zabuza, the grin was intimidating, full of overly sharp teeth. He could only imagine what it looked like in his current life.

Both of them got into basic stances, loose and ready.

“Shouldn’t we just sit here and wait for Kakashi-sensei?” Sakura suddenly interrupted, before shutting up as two heated glares went her way. One of them was holding slivers of killing intent.

Zabuza Momochi did _not_ like anyone interrupting his battles.

Sasuke and Naruto got back into ready positions, examining their opponents form. Both of them had relatively loose looking stances. Sasuke was surprised by this, because that meant Naruto had moved on from his typical simple drawling style. Loose stances were either for fluid/flexible movements, or for reactive styles. Uchiha had a reactive style, which made sense considering their doujutsu. Sasuke’s interest was definitely peeked, and he dashed toward the dope, making the first move for once.

Naruto _bent_ out of the way of the attack, taking that moment to hook under Sasuke’s ankle in an attempt to throw him off. It worked, and Naruto went to punch Sasuke to take advantage of the situation.

Sasuke, although shocked, quickly recovered and caught the fist the dope had so daringly attempted to throw. Instead of how a typical brawler would react, Naruto twisted his body and jumped behind Sasuke, intending to pull him into a chokehold. As he pulled the move, Sasuke didn’t let go of Naruto’s fist, but that didn’t stop the blonde, instead his arm actually turned.

That in and of itself was shocking to Sasuke, and there wasn’t another move that he could have made, Naruto had him.

It was the first time that he’d ever lost to Naruto.

Although it probably wouldn’t continue like that.

Styles like the one that Naruto used just weren’t typical in males. Sasuke had every right to be stunned by the sheer flexibility his opponent had displayed. Naruto hadn’t ever actually shown himself to be so flexible before. Sasuke couldn’t even comprehend just where Naruto would have learned something like that. The answer wasn’t something the Uchiha would ever guess, and that made Naruto almost smug. Even back in the Mist, the style wasn’t typically used by males. That didn’t stop the determined Zabuza though. His Kenjutsu was all about fluid movements, and he wanted a Taijutsu to fit that. His fellows making fun of him for having a girlie style of Taijutsu only lasted until after he kicked all their asses and left them with several broken bones.

“Again.” The Uchiha broke from his shock and demanded.

He just got the same mechanical grin as before, the blonde stepping back into place before Sasuke.

And they lunged.

Win, Naruto

Win, Naruto

Tie

Tie

Win, Sasuke

Win Sasuke

Win, Sasuke

Win Sasuke

Win, Naruto

Win, Sasuke

Win Sasuke

It started out in Naruto’s favour, but eventually he stopped being able to surprise Sasuke with the style he’d been using. Uchiha were quick to adapt, although Naruto was getting in a good workout, so despite his pride being utterly _SMASHED_ by losing to a Genin, he accepted it with grace. Eventually the sparing came to an end, Kakashi would be here in less than half an hour and they needed to rest up. Both male Genin were panting considering the matches they’d just held.

Sasuke was finding Naruto in a new light.

The blonde truly was the Number One Most Surprising Ninja. Still, he wasn’t even close to Sasuke’s level. A few surprises made it though the Uchiha’s guard, but he’d adapted.

Besides, even if Naruto were capable of catching up, Sasuke would just train harder. He had goals that would drive him farther than the blonde’s idiotic dream, hatred to fuel him far more effectively than the ramen the blonde used to keep himself going.

Meanwhile, Naruto thought over the spars with inward distaste. Both as Naruto and Zabuza the idea of losing to Sasuke was pathetic. He was a Genin! Besides that, it did help him smooth out the style rather quickly. He would have to spar with Sasuke again. He was the perfect amount of strength for a sparring partner. The loses were also spurring Naruto into something else. Now that he had most of the Kenjutsu basics back and could fight with his sword, it was probably time to start with the weight training. Most shinobi didn’t bother with it unless they were Taijutsu specialists, but no matter what your specification, the speed that weights built would be useful to a ninja.

_CRACK_

The sound echoed louder than it should, and Naruto’s senses snapped behind him. Before Naruto even knew what he was doing, He’d grabbed Kubikiribōchō and swung upward.

There was mild resistance, he’d hit something.

Without slowing the momentum from drawing and his first attack, Naruto swung the blade around as he himself moved around to face the person he’d just attacked, his senses still going haywire. It wasn’t anyone that Naruto knew, and he was about to attack the ninja again. Suddenly though, he stopped himself.

Just what was he doing?

Just because this unknown ninja had appeared behind him didn’t mean he was an enemy. There had been a hostile air, but that was now complete gone, replaced with … Surprise? Pride? A familiar chakra signature. Naruto could still barely feel outside of his own chakra considering just how massive it was, but he’d know the people he considered precious.

Iruka.

Guilt crashed down onto Naruto. Sure, he didn’t know why the man had been so ready to attack Naruto, but the blonde had jumped to conclusions and followed his instincts, just on that, instinct. Suddenly, he could hear his teammates flood next to him, weapons drawn, although just who they were pointing those toward Naruto didn’t know.

Just the guilt of attacking one of his precious people.

Haku had taught him better than that.

She would be looking down from heaven with a disappointed look, of this Zabuza was sure.

Before the situation could escalate anymore, Kakashi made an appearance, “Maamaa, my cute little Genin, calm down. Iruka-sensei, did they pass your little test?”

“Y-yes!” The disguised man stumbled, allowing the henge to drop. He lifted up his injured arm and rubbed his nose sheepishly, “You’ve really improved Naruto. I guess I should have known better than to sneak up on a ninja when underestimating them. Naruto showed impressive reflexes and instincts, and his teammates quickly rushed to his aid… Considering Naruto’s change, I don’t even want to know how much the others have improved.”

Sucking in a deep breath and forcing his emotions down, Naruto smiled at the man, “I guess I’ve improved a lot, huh Iruka-sensei! I’ll be Hokage in no time.”

He puffed out his chest, even though he wasn’t feeling particularly proud at the moment.

“Alright, since Iruka-sensei approves, you’ve been put forward for the Chunin Exam. Here’s your forms, it’s in five days, and you will be in the exam room at exactly twelve o’clock otherwise you won’t be let in.” Kakashi quickly handed over a few sheets of paper; the three Genin grabbed them, but were still pretty stunned by the whole situation.

Once it sunk in, all three students were rather ecstatic.

Naruto especially, was more than happy with this chance. Once you got Chunin, no more D-Rank’s unless you were being punished. It was not only a good next step on his road to becoming Hokage, but it would also heal his pride a bit. He was an elite member of ANBU spec. forces, an A-Rank missing-nin, and somehow he was a Genin. Becoming a Chunin would sooth that sting a lot. Never mind the fact it was literally impossible for him to fail at this. Sure, he’d never taken the Chunin Exam’s before, but he was at least mentally beyond that level.

From what he understood, Chunin exam’s typically consisted of three different tests.

Shouldn’t be much of a problem. Although it would have been nice to have experience from his past life, as Zabuza had killed his sensei and went from Genin straight to ANBU Elite.

“Alright kids, you’re dismissed.” Kakashi finally said, looking at his little students expressions with a weird feeling. It was warm… He’d have to ask Iruka once they left.

Although…

They soon left, Kakashi watching one in particular as they went. Naruto had come a long way in just a few weeks. It definitely proved how much potential the blonde had when he put his all into it. Going from Academy all the way to High Genin level was no small feat. That incline of ability would likely start to slow without a decent teacher. This meant that Kakashi was going to have to step up his game as far as teaching went. The exams would teach them a lesson, and after that, the team would hopefully be ready to learn – Especially Sakura. Although Kakashi did wonder where Naruto had learned the styles he was using, he ultimately just trusted his blonde student.

You should always trust your teammates, if no one else.

Both Kakashi and Iruka stood there for a moment after they were gone.

“It’s almost sad, to see Naruto growing up like that…” Iruka murmured to his friend.

“I don’t really know what I’m feeling, but it’s not sad… It’s warmer?” Kakashi quested, tilting his head to the side, his eye flickering over his companion, “How badly did he actually get you?”

“It’s deep… An inch higher and to the left and he would have split my neck open…” Iruka finally admitted, but knew that it wasn’t exactly Naruto’s fault. He was just following the good instincts that should be in every shinobi, and the blonde didn’t seem all that effected by it.

“I put them in the exams more as a lesson. They are good enough to survive, but not good enough to pass.” Kakashi admitted, before an eye smile formed, “Somehow though, I think that they will surprise me.”

They both walked off the training field, about to go their separate ways and head home, when suddenly Iruka spoke, “its called pride, Kakashi.”

After which, Iruka took off toward his home. Kakashi looked in the direction that he was going now, something else warming him now. If the last warm feeling was pride, than just what did this one mean? Somehow, though, he thought better than to ask Iruka, it almost gave him a sting of embarrassment to even think about asking after this particular feeling.

Oh well, he’d figure it out.

 

 


	5. The Enemies

Five days until the Chunin exam.

In those five days, Naruto knew that he would need to boost his training as far as possible. The last thing that he wanted was to stay a Genin after this chance was handed to him on a silver platter.

The plan was simple. Naruto had promised himself that he wouldn’t use more than five clones to train.

He lied.

This time though, he promised himself that he wouldn’t allow himself to go over ten. The danger was too much to stretch the technique farther, as proved by Naruto almost dying from information overloud when he gained the Zabuza part of him. Still, ten was more than adequate. Naruto wasn’t much for math, but this was basic enough.

5 days to train. 12 hours a day for training. 11 separate people. That meant Naruto would get 660 hours of training instead of the 60 he would get without the clones. Still, Naruto promised himself that after the Chunin Exam’s were done and over with, he’d lay off using this technique to train. The mental effects of it were relatively unknown. This was likely because there weren’t a lot of people that could train this way. Most people didn’t have the chakra to actually create 10 Shadow Clones, never mind the thousands that Naruto could summon if he were to put his mind to it.

Five of them would work on chakra control. Naruto was on the edge of being able to actually conceal his chakra, if he mastered the other chakra control exercises than it should be possible. If he could get those, he might actually start a few clones on Nature Transformation. It was a highly advanced form of chakra control after all. So not only would it help Naruto gain control over his chakra, but would also help him to gain more control and stability to his current Suiton techniques.

The other five clones were working on Genjutsu.

Zabuza hadn’t been a huge Genjutsu user – But he’d been fearful of them.

Perhaps fearful wasn’t the correct word, but he was definitely cautious. Naruto himself hadn’t really understood the danger, but looking at it from his more mature point of view, it was beyond understandable. Genjutsu was dangerous, it manipulated the senses, and it left you open. Therefore, Zabuza learned a few. Only three, but the ones that he learned were useful. He also forced himself to train against one of the top Genjutsu users in Mist, taking several different torturous Genjutsu so that he learned how to dispel them.

Now that Naruto had nearly decent chakra control, he could try to get those skills back.

Even with five clones working on it, Zabuza was doubtful that he’d gain the ability back before exams.

The three Genjutsu were thus: A binding Genjutsu, A Genjutsu that adjusts the opponent’s perception only slightly, and a Genjutsu that creates a blind spot in the senses.

All of which were extremely useful in Zabuza’s line of work.

None of which were actually easy to use.

It had taken Zabuza years to get them down. Even if Naruto could pull through, the effects of the techniques would be weak at best. Regardless, it was still worth practicing. Especially releasing Genjutsu. The last thing Naruto needed was to be wide open to those people. They were the most dangerous type of Shinobi – The sly kind.

The real Naruto? He’d be working on physical conditioning, Taijutsu, and a bit more Kenjutsu. Taijutsu being the main point however.

…

One of the best things about doing weight training was the fact you didn’t have to actually be in the training fields for it to work. You just went about your usual routine using them. At least, if you wanted to do it the lazy way. It was almost the more efficient way, as it usually was with laziness. Regardless, once Naruto had the weights on, he went through his Kenjutsu kata, moving into Taijutsu kata smoothly after about an hour of Kenjutsu. Two hours of Taijutsu, and Naruto was hungry.

This was likely because Kyuubi was helping the training along by healing Naruto. The healing made Naruto hungry, as it always had.

So, Naruto took advantage of the best part about weight training, and went to get something to eat.

Along the way though, Naruto came across a few troublemakers. To be more accurate, they were following him. Naruto couldn’t help the small smile that grew on his face when he heard a familiar voice frantically whisper, “No, you gotta put your foot down before you put weight on it, kore!”

Seems Naruto’s little apprentice had remembered his lesson from the other day.

“Kono-chan, you little brat! Everything I taught you about walking silently means nothing if you spew noise from your mouth!” Naruto exclaims, as he turns around to face the little brat who had been following him. Beside him were two people who Naruto didn’t recognize, but Naruto could assume they were his friends, considering how close they were standing to the blonde’s apprentice.

Konohamaru looked sheepish for a few seconds before he approached Naruto, his two friends trailing behind. One was a nerdy looking kid, the other was a female with weird hair, “Busted again, but don’t worry Naruto-sensei, someday I’ll definitely sneak up on you!”

Naruto couldn’t help but nod along encouragingly, “Sure, try me at anytime. I have to warn you though; I’m always on guard from attacks from my brat apprentice.”

Konohamaru didn’t have the same maturity Haku did, but that didn’t mean that the training exercises couldn’t be the same. Naruto remembered telling Haku to attack him at anytime, and if the kid could catch his master off guard, then he won the little game. Even at 18, even after 8 years under Zabuza’s teaching, Haku still couldn’t – no – didn’t, beat him at the little game they had. Haku just hadn’t been suited for silent killing to the same extend Zabuza was.

Naruto shook the thoughts out of his head, instead paying more attention to the gaki in front of him.

“I’ll definitely beat you someday! These are my teammates, they’ll help me. He’s Udon, and she’s Moegi, together we make up Konohamaru Gundan!”

All three children went on to give some horrifyingly stupid pose.

Naruto walked over to Konohamaru and smacked a first onto his head, “Never do that again, gaki. You’re my apprentice; you got to look cooler than that.”

Naruto was more childish than he’d been as Zabuza after all. He cared more for appearances. Zabuza cared, but in more of a vein way. It was a subtle difference that Naruto wasn’t even sure he could explain.

“What! But that totally looked badass…” Konohamaru said, looking almost confused, “But guess what boss! I was teaching them how to do the Kage Killer Jutsu that you showed me; Moegi didn’t really like it… But I told her about how effective it was. You should definitely help us show her!”

Naruto gave a shark like grin, “I know just how to do it. Let’s go find my sensei, we’ll definitely show your teammates the awesomeness that is the Kage Killer! First things first though, we’ll have to find him. That means we need to do information gathering!”

The three brats were looking at him attentively, Naruto tried not to let that look get to him. The most Naruto parts of him were glowing at the attention whether he wanted to avoid showing that feeling or not.

“First step of information gathering is pooling what you already know. Kakashi Hatake is an Elite Jounin, he’s known throughout the world as one of the best ninja. He is a prodigy that graduated amazingly early and is one of the youngest to become Genin, Chunin, and Jounin. He is always late, giving stupid excuses for it, and he has only one eye showing, the rest of his face is covered.” Naruto took a deep breath before looking at the three before him, “Do any of you know anything about him?”

He hadn’t been expecting an answer, but he got one. Moegi raised her hand and waved it around with excitement, “You got something for us, Weird Hair?”

She just nodded her head, not even noticing the nickname in her want to answer, “Iruka-sensei definitely knows Kakashi-san! Kakashi-san came into the classroom one day to talk to Iruka-sensei.”

That was actually extremely useful, “Alright then! Let’s go talk to Iruka. On the way there, we can’t let our potential target know, so we have to be quiet and quick. Do all of you know how to move quietly? Kono-chan told you right?”

Getting nods, Naruto motioned for the kids to follow him as they made their way to Iruka’s apartment. It didn’t take them five minutes to get there. They stopped about fifteen feet away from the building and hid in the shadows, “Alright, this part is important. We don’t want Iruka to warn Kakashi-sensei so we need to be careful about how we go about this. So, you guys are going too hid here, and I’m going to ask Iruka were Kakashi is because I need some help with a technique. He knows Kakashi is my sensei, so he’ll definitely buy it.”

Getting nods of agreement, Naruto moved forward and, as soon as he made sure the kids were well hid, knocked on Iruka’s door.

“Naruto-kun! What are you doing here?” However, the smile on his face a dead give away to the amount of the man cared for his former student.

“I’m looking for Kaka-sensei; he’s supposed to help me with something.” Naruto lied with a straight face, not giving anything away.

Iruka bought it without question, “Actually, he’s just in the other room. Let me get him for you. Wait right here.”

Here? Kakashi was…

Naruto just smiled, and moved his hands behind his back, creating a shadow clone to tell the kids the news. Iruka went into the other room and told Kakashi that his student was outside. It didn’t take more than twenty seconds for Kakashi to be at the door, looking at the blonde in deep suspicion, “I don’t remember having to help you with something Naru-chan…”

He didn’t give away his suspicion, his voice just as lazed and teasing as it always was.

“Nope, you totally are going to help me! I have a point to make to a few kids.”

With that, Naruto made a hand sign and exclaimed, “Oiroke no Jutsu”

Kakashi looked shocked, but there was little effect, even as Naruto made suggestive motions and comments. That’s when Naruto knew something was wrong. Without the more mature part of himself, the Zabuza part, Naruto might have given up at that. Showing no effect at all was just abnormal after all. Instead, Naruto knew just what was going on here.

Iruka and Kakashi were more than friends!

Naruto poofed back into his own body and gave the man a sharp grin, “I see what’s going on here. You’re defiling my innocent sensei in there! The only reason that jutsu wouldn’t work was if you weren’t attracted to females. I’ve practiced it too much to fail after all.”

Iruka made a choked sound, having just been about to scold Naruto, but got the full force of that little comment, Kakashi just looked bored, trying to hide any feelings he had on the matter, well being honestly confused as to what Naruto was talking about.

“Boss! You said it would work!” Konohamaru exclaimed, coming out of his hiding place, the other two also stumbling out.

“N-NARUTO! Don’t go corrupting my students!” Iruka regained himself to say.

Naruto was still studying the Cyclopes-sensei, “Well… Good thing I made a version for every occasion.”

Naruto made another hand sign, only this time, he made a group of Shadow Clones as well. After which, all the Shadow Clones exclaimed, “Oiroke: Otokonoko Dōshi no Jutsu”

The clones transformed themselves to look like Iruka, and gave similar suggestive motions and comments. This time, Kakashi was utterly knocked out, blood escaping from his mask. Naruto was pretty damn happy with the result of this, even though pretty uncomfortable about using Iruka as a way to prove the technique, the only reason he was okay with it was because it would definitely prove to Iruka that Kakashi was a pervert that he should go giving his virginity too.

No way was that innocent Iruka anything other than a virgin.

If he wasn’t… Then Naruto would just have to kill the person that touched his sensei like that.

Leaving the passed out Kakashi and the shell-shocked Iruka, Naruto motioned toward the kids, “Now’s time for the escape! You never know when they will wake up, so you need to get as far away as possible.”

They took off running, fast as they could, not bothering with the stealth.

…

They ran practically half way across the whole village without issue. Of course, Konohamaru would be the one to accidently bump into one of the most dangerous people currently in the whole place.

A red head with bags under his eyes, a weird looking gourd on his back, and a near crazed glaze in his eyes. He looked shocked at the very idea of someone having the audacity to dump into him, and turned that crazed look toward the young academy student. Naruto resisted the urge to pull out his sword and slit the fucker’s throat for daring to look at his apprentice like that, “Sorry about that, this little brat wasn’t paying attention where he was going…”

Naruto grabbed Konohamaru and forced him to bow, in apology.

“You… “The redhead seemed at a loss for words, but killing intent was leaking off of him. Naruto resisted the urge to pull out his sword again, and a blonde girl and weird looking guy with face paint stepped forward, extremely cautiously.

“Gaara… This isn’t the place for you to lose control.” The girl spoke, her tone attempting to sound calm, but in reality, it was shaking with fear.

“Kono-chan, why don’t you and your friends go along? You can teach them the Kage Killer. Now they have no choice but to believe you.”

Konohamaru, who had been staring at the person he’d bumped into with eyes full of utter terror, quickly nodded in agreement with Naruto and fled, dragging his confused friends after him.

The second the three were out of sight; Naruto lost all pretence of friendliness, and glared at the red head, releasing his own killer intent, “You shouldn’t have looked at that particular brat like that. He’s my little subordinate… If you ever look at him like that again, I’ll kill you. I don’t care who get’s in my way, I’ll ship your head back to your village and let the crows feast on what’s left of your body.”

Naruto never could control himself when it came to the protection of his precious people.

‘Gaara’ was staring at the blonde in confusing, the killing intent disappearing. He almost seemed to study the Genin in front of him. Standing up to him. Trying to protect the little kid? Didn’t the blonde know what a monster he was, that he had no chance against someone like Gaara?

“We’re sorry about this. My brother has some temper problems.” The face painted male spoke, as if trying to smooth the situation over.

Naruto just glared.

“You’re here for the Chunin Exam’s am I right? Maybe you shouldn’t aggravate the Hokage’s Grandson if you want a safe stay here.”

With that, Naruto turned on his heel and left. He did not intend to stay longer, or he might come to the realization it would be safer for Kono-chan if he just took care of the red headed problem right there and then.

Naruto stalked back to the training field, intending to get strong enough to face any threat that came his way. Even if they came in the form of half-crazed redheads.

…

Kakashi woke up from a not so clean dream with a start. Looking around, trying to gain understanding of the current situation, running through the last memories he’d have before he… passed…. out….

Immediately sweat gathered on his forehead, he could feel the dried blood on his mask… Evidence that what he remembered had actually happened. Right in front of Iruka as well. Damn that blonde little brat, Kakashi would definitely get him back for this. Maybe making the troublemaker run around the village a few times would make him learn not to mess with his sensei like this. No, that wasn’t good enough. He would have to hit the blonde where it really hurt.

The ramen.

That is right; Kakashi was going to burn all the ramen in the village. Naruto would definitely know he meant business if he did that.

“Kakashi-kun?” A soft voice spoke, familiar, Iruka.

Kakashi could feel his entire body tense. Damn, he really didn’t know how to deal with a situation like this.

Therefore, the silver-haired man did what he always did when he was brought face to face with emotions that he did not understand. Not even looking at Iruka, he dashed out of the house like the coward that he was. The last thing he wanted was to see Iruka’s face when he realized that Kakashi was nothing more than a pervert. Sure, the man knew about the books, but he also knew that they were a cover. There was no covering the perverted feelings that the copy-nin felt for the Chunin, not after the evidence was so clearly laid out.

Without even really knowing where he was going, Kakashi let his legs carry him.

It was no real surprise when he ended up in front of a very familiar monument.

Kakashi did not even know how long he had spent at the place on average. It was a lot though, just talking to the air, talking to his Minato-sensei, Obito… Rin…

“I don’t know what to do, Obito….”

As always, he got no answer.

 


	6. The Start

The last five days could not have been more fruitful physically. It was easy to be thankful toward the Kyuubi – Despite what it had done to the village and Naruto’s own life, when he helped Naruto out as he did. No one else could progress as quickly physically as Naruto did. Well, other demon holders could, some bloodlines… People that worked hard enough…. However, that was beside the point. The point being that it was incredibly rare to find someone that could actually train the way that the blonde did and not die well doing it.

He got dressed in another of the same outfit. Black pants, shirt, and sandals, but burnt orange arm and leg warmers. He also ditched any weights, knowing logically that they were too unwieldy to take off if a fight occurred in the exams. Finally, he put on his forehead protector and grabbed Kubikiribōchō.

Naruto quickly took to the roofs the second he was ready.

The team had got together and decided that they would be going into the exams about half an hour before it was time for them to begin. Not over eager, but also dangerously last minute. It was actually Sasuke that came up with that particular time frame, but Naruto couldn’t bring himself to argue over it. The only thing wrong with the time frame was the fact that Sasuke brought it up rather curtly, borderline rude, and just expected the rest of the team to agree with him. Which they had, sometimes Naruto thought that he was giving the Uchiha too much leeway though.

Before it was because Naruto knew, what it was like to be lonely like Sasuke was. Now it was much different, now Naruto would look at Sasuke and see someone that no longer existed.

Naruto blanked his minds of such depressing thoughts. First and foremost, he needed to be in the right mindset when it came to exams. It wasn’t even that Naruto thought they could touch him. However, Naruto also knew that the other teams were Konoha teams. This meant that the rest of his comrades were likely in for a wakeup call. Naruto hoped that he could make sure they weren’t too harmed by said calling. Sakura being the biggest offender here. Naruto pretty much knew that Sasuke was broken of innocents regarding the ninja world in general.

The blonde shook his head once again, almost amused over the way his thoughts now got away from him. Before most of his thoughts were something like, ‘Ramen… Training… Sasuke… Ramen…. Hokage Hokage Hokage’

Vast improvement.

So much so that Naruto had to admit, he was more Zabuza than he’d previously thought. It was more like a half-half deal then the one out of five ramen bowls that Naruto originally assumed.

A patch of bright pink was visible in the distance now, and it didn’t take Naruto very long to catch up. Sasuke was already there, next to their pinkette teammate as Naruto dropped down from the buildings.

“Dope… I almost thought that you weren’t coming.” The Uchiha said, a familiar teasing smirk curling onto his lips.

Naruto just gave an overly large grin in return, “Well, I can’t stay a Genin forever. Besides, someone has to be around to pull you out of the fire. Undoubtedly you are going to end up getting yourself in some deep shit that will have me rushing in to save your pansy ass.”

“Hn.”

Naruto could feel his eye twitch at the typical Uchiha response. What the absolute fuck was that little sound Sasuke made… It wasn’t fucking cute, it wasn’t a confirmation, hell, Sasuke could practically hold an entire conversation with just that sound considering how often and varied he used it. Utterly ridiculous.

“How about you Sakura? How are you feeling about the exams?” Naruto said, turning his attention toward their fan girl teammate.

Anyone could see that she was a ball of nerves.

“I’m sure that we will pass no problem. After all, we have Sasuke-kun on our teams, and he’s the Rookie of the Year.” She spoke haughtily.

Naruto really hated people who lied to themselves. He honestly would have thought Sakura’s attitude would have gotten better after that Wave mission. That however, didn’t seem to be the case. Perhaps seeing the teams from other Nations would help to install the idea of just how much of a spoiled brat she was about the whole ninja thing.

Sasuke didn’t seem to take the comment well either, but refrained from showing a reaction. Only someone that watched Sasuke as much as Naruto had would have seen the small tightening of his eye lines.  

The three Genin walked inside of the school as what they were – A team.

They meet their first roadblock the second that they walked in. There were a whole shit ton of Genin just standing there in front of one doorway in particular. This was curious, considering it wasn’t the doorway that they were meant to be at. Even weirder was the fact it was guarded by two other Genin.

Naruto, who finally had enough chakra control to sense others rather well, could tell that those two weren’t Genin. Never mind the fact that there were several Genjutsu active in the area. As impulsive as he was, there was no urge to suddenly rat those ‘Genin’ out. They were simply weeding out those that weren’t meant to be in the exam.

Then something interesting happened. A girl went up to the ‘Genin’ her hair in buns and practically begging the guards to let her and her team through so that they could compete in the exams.

Why was this interesting?

Naruto would bet anything on the fact it was nothing more than an act. The girl was playing off the fact that the people around her were half convinced of the little lie, and was trying to keep the competition down. She was a sly little thing if that was the case, and her team was surely one to look out for. Of course, there was someone with an ego bigger than a plan in the room, “My team would never fall for such a thing. The third floor? We only went up two flights of stairs. You should just take down that pathetic Genjutsu.”

Tch, stupid Uchiha… Nothing for it. Once the Uchiha got a proper ass kicking, he wouldn’t be as full of himself. Until then, Naruto would just have to swallow down his thoughts. Nothing Naruto could say would change his mind on the matter.

But seriously, it was as if they had utterly forgotten the Wave Mission.

It had no effect on their overall attitudes and outlooks at all. It was disappointing as much as it was enraging. Haku died, Zabuza lost his strength and had to start life anew because of that mission, and the Genin couldn’t even grow up a little bit?

Still, it was almost humorous to watch all the stupid Genin realize what the Uchiha said was fact. They all looked angry with themselves, and they should be. It was likely they didn’t deserve to be part of this Exam if they couldn’t see through such a simple illusion. It was as Naruto had always thought though, if you weren’t paying attention, A Genjutsu user would kill you before you could scream to your mommy.

Naruto normally wasn’t one big on strategy. He preferred tactics… However, he could work with what Sasuke was doing. Instead of going under the radar (Like actual fucking shinobi), they could use the attention Sasuke was drawing in a proactive way. It would unconsciously make people underestimate Naruto, even Sakura… She’d need that. So letting the Uchiha making a fool of himself was a plus in this…

This certainly reminded Naruto that Sasuke wasn’t anything like the friend he had all that time ago in Mist.

Then a surprising character acted. Dressed in skintight green and orange leg warmers…

It made Naruto want to rip off his own leg warmers and never be seen in the country again.

This of course, was beside the point. The Genin in question was extremely fast. Naruto immediately categorized him as a dangerous opponent. Looks were deceiving in many cases, and this was without a doubt one of them. Stopping the Uchiha and a Chunin wasn’t a small feat after all, “Let’s wait to fight until the exams start. This is no place for actions like this.”

It got worse though.

“Lee, you said that we should hide ourselves, and you just gave us away.” The girl who’d been acting earlier spoke out.

Naruto was instantly more on guard than ever before. So, the smart girl was actually teammates with the strong sprout... Lee as it was. Their other teammate was undoubtedly just as impressive. It was better not to make enemies of them. Before anyone else could get a word in, Naruto spoke up himself, “Teme… You are the one that made us some here at this time. I thought it was for a reason, yet here you are wasting time. Let’s go, before we end up getting into trouble.”

“Hn.” Came the typical response once again, only this time, it was almost spat out. The Uchiha wasn’t happy that his teammate was drawing him away from the potential confrontation.

Tough shit! Damn, Sasuke was so much more bearable a few days ago. What the hell had changed his mind…?

“Don’t talk to Sasuke-kun like that!” Sakura whispered frantically, looking around at the other Genin, almost embarrassed.

Both Naruto and Sasuke had already started to walk toward where they were meant to be going, without paying much attention to what she was saying. Naruto of course, didn’t give a shit of her weird over protective urge when it came to the Uchiha, and the Uchiha himself didn’t appreciate someone else fighting his battles.

They entered a rather open area that was sometimes used for sparring if the weather outside wasn’t good enough, only to be interrupted by a now familiar voice, “Hey you, with the mean attitude.”

Naruto knew that they should just ignore it – continuing without looking back to the troublemaker.

Instead, both Sasuke and Sakura turned around to face the person who had spoken toward them. At this point, Naruto was getting more than just impatient, but slammed down some emotional control. The situation could be made use of, if Naruto was cunning enough. It was practically a challenge.

That’s right, not an annoyance… A challenge.

“You’re Sasuke Uchiha correct? The last of the prodigal Uchiha Clan?” The sprout said, seeming an almost formal type of tense.

This of course, made Sasuke angry. People talking about his clan usually did. It brought up the feelings of inadequacy he felt when related to the rest of the perfect clan he’d been born into. Especially when it came to Itachi, “What of it?” He spoke curtly.

“I’ve heard that you are your years Rookie of the Year, a prodigy that many talk about, saying you are extremely skilled… Is this true?”

“Can you just get to the point already? We have a test to get to… I swear to god if I have to stay a Genin for another six months because I missed this exam I will kill everyone currently in this room. That includes myself.” Naruto hissed out, grinding his teeth. Just the thought of failing this exam and being sent to find that goddamn cat…

Degrading…

“I just want a match with one of the top people in our generation.” Lee said, although there was a spark of interest in his eyes that wasn’t there before when beholding Naruto.

All right Uzumaki, don’t spit killing intent out like its piss, you can control yourself.

“Dope… Like you’re going to pass anyway.” Nevertheless, it was a comfortable tease, something that made Naruto’s anger lessen, rather than rise. The Uchiha then went to look the challenger in front of him over, wondering why he seemed so confident. Lee himself had said that Sasuke was one of the top in their generation, “Let me get this straight, you know that I’m supposedly one of the best in our generation, and you still want to fight me?”

Lee had a deep sort of determination set in his eyes, “Yes, I believe that fighting you will help me to understand my own path better. I definitely need to fight a prodigy, to understand just where I am when it comes to my own skill level.”

That was something that Sasuke of all people could get behind. It was understandable; to want to know where you stood against someone you considered being your goal. Sadly enough, Sasuke knew that he was nowhere near his goal, but if he could help this Lee reach his, then shouldn’t Sasuke take that extra step?

“Uke-chan, please remember that we have a deadline to meet.” Naruto was quick to interject, giving a bloodthirsty grin toward his teammate. As if daring him to go against the words he’d just spoken. Even Sakura seemed to be in agreement, nodding along to what their blonde teammate was saying.

“This won’t take that long.” Sasuke stated confidently, stepping forward despite his teammates misgivings.

Naruto sincerely hopped that the sprout gave his teammate a solid ass kicking. Didn’t the bastard ever learn that there was no ‘I’ in ‘team’?

“Feh… I’m going up ahead. I have no interested in watching this ass beating, no matter which way it goes. Uke-chan, if you make me fail because you decided to play a game, I will not be happy.” Naruto spoke clearly; glaring at Sasuke, bits of Naruto’s killing intent leaking with the glare.

Naruto had noticed he was angry more often than the past few days. At first, he had thought it was a side effect of the whole Zabuza becoming half of just who made Naruto… well…. Naruto. However, that did not seem to be the case. If anything, Zabuza had a surprising amount of emotional control, and not much made him truly angry. This made the situation all the more curious, but as it were, Naruto’s only theory was that he woke up on the wrong side of the bed for the last week.

As Naruto walked away, he gave a wave behind to his teammates and continued on his way to room 301.

“Naru-chan.”

The voice was familiar, but it held an amount of anger that Naruto had not heard from the man before. To say that it was putting the blonde on edge wouldn’t be an understatement. For a few seconds, Naruto wondered just what he would have done to make this particular person angry with him. That was, of course, when Naruto remembered his actions a few days ago when proving a point to his little apprentice.

“Kaka-sensei…” Even when the man had been trying to kill him as Zabuza, Kakashi hadn’t given such strong killing intent.

The second Naruto uttered the syllables however, that intent vanished and the silver haired man practically folded in on himself, “My cute little student certainly went out of his way to destroy my only friendship.”

Naruto could almost feel the depressed aura around the man. The Uzumaki rarely regretted his actions, especially not ones that could have been taken as nothing more than a simple prank, but for once, he did feel the twinges of guilt. He hadn’t meant to do something so horrible to his two sensei’s relationship that they would break it off.

“Surely Iruka-sensei knew you were a pervert when you became a thing.”

“We weren’t a thing.” Kakashi stated plainly, looking at the ceiling instead of at his student. Honestly, Kakashi couldn’t believe he was having this conversation, but he needed to have it with someone. His avenue of emotional structure was done without Iruka around to help the silver haired man work through what he was feeling. It was too embarrassing to talk to his senior comrades with; as they didn’t have the same emotional stunting that Kakashi did and likely wouldn’t understand. The only one he had been comfortable with was Iruka…

“Damn.” Naruto whispered, understanding his error much better now. How was he meant to know that the two were so deep into denial that they utterly unaware of their own feelings? Still, that shouldn’t mean Iruka would have left Kakashi, Naruto’s old sensei was far too empathic for that, “I doubt Iruka-sensei dropped your friendship over something like your attraction toward him. Even if he didn’t feel the same way toward you, which he does by the way.”

Naruto really wanted with withhold advice like this. The last thing he really wanted was his perverted sensei going after his innocent one. However, he broke this, and now Naruto had to fix it.

“You think so?” Kakashi sounded almost innocently hopeful.

Damn, this guy was broken ten ways to Sunday. Naruto thought to himself, looking at his sensei with a curious eye. Zabuza could recall hearing about Kakashi a lot, excessively young to be a ninja… Trained to keep his emotions out of the job completely, during a war too. It made sense that he was so messed up, and Naruto had broken his support system. Damn, no wonder he was coming to Naruto like this.

Something was curious about the way he’d put that though, “Shouldn’t you already know that?”

“I ran away.” Kakashi stated plainly, masking his emotions behind a feeble eye smile.

Urgh… “Go talk to him, actually talk to him. I’m almost sure that he will admit his feelings toward you and you two can do… Whatever it is you do all alone at Iruka’s house. Let’s be clear though… If you hurt him, I will kill you.”

Kakashi seemed to mull the information over, before nodding slowly, his whole demeanor seeming to nit itself back together, bringing up the typical mask the man wore on a daily basis. Not the physical one, but the metaphorical one, “By the way, you can’t go in there without your teammates… I would have thought that Sasuke would have shown, but either way, you need a team. Guess no Chunin Exams for you.”

The man was borderline too cheerful for having to say something like that.

“They’re here, they are just lagging behind.”

As if on cue, the two other members of Team 7 walked in and saw Naruto with their Sensei, both of which raised a hand in greeting.

Sasuke was wearing several bruises. On his pride that was, the physical ones were actually less apparent then the internal ones that Uchiha had just suffered if his general demeanor was anything to go by.

“I guess little Uke-chan ended up getting his ass handed to him by the Sprout. Can’t say I was betting on it, but I’m not overly surprised.”

Sasuke just glared at Naruto, still trying to piece together his superiority complex, Naruto guessed.

“Shut up Naruto-baka! Sasuke-kun didn’t get his ass beat; he was just surprised is all. Next time he’ll definitely get that weirdo.” Sakura said, sounding pretty sure of it.

Naruto would beg to differ. It seemed that Sasuke had gotten his ass kicked Grade-A-Style, the sprout was simply better than him. Uke-chan probably shouldn’t be up to facing Lee again anytime soon.

“Shouldn’t my cute little Genin have arguments like this AFTER they complete the first part of the exams? You wouldn’t want to be late, would you?”

All three of said, ‘Cute Little Genin’ were clearing at their sensei for that particular comment. How the man could get off on telling them not to be late, when he couldn’t be on time to save a life. The Copycat

…

There are a shit ton of shinobi in here, was Naruto’s first thought as he entered the room, his second thought?

Which ones were the most dangerous?

There weren’t that many that stood out off the bat, with the exception of the redhead and his team, as well as the Sprout and his team. The rest of them seemed to be relatively normal shinobi for mid to high Genin-level. Naruto stood in one place, just observing the other teams for a few moments. Another thing of note was the three Genin that wore a music note as their forehead protector symbol. Neither Zabuza, nor Naruto had come across something like that before.

His thought process was interrupted, “Naruto-baka! Pay attention!”

Sakura screamed in his ear, his attention wrenched toward her, as he tried to withstand the urge to reflexively reach for his sword at the fright in such a competition.

No one really noticed this.

Except one person who’d been observing the blonde the same way the blonde had been watching everyone else – Nara Shikamaru.

Seeing a more mature Naruto was like a kick in the balls. It was clear to Shikamaru that Naruto had far exceeded what any of them had expected form the blonde already. The way he was looking at the room before, he was studying his opponent, and as a Nara, no one knew how that looked better than Shikamaru. It wasn’t just in strength that Naruto grew then, but also in intelligence. That doubled with Naruto’s creativity would certainly mean one thing, Nara Shikamaru needed to keep his options open. Naruto was strong, a thus would make a powerful enemy... or ally.

Shikamaru knew that his team wasn’t ready for these exams. They were put in the exams to teach a lesson, as their Sensei assumed that they would be able to get out alive. That was true, as long as they had Shikamaru along to play it smarter instead of harder.

Sometimes smarter meant knowing when your opponent had you out gunned and you needed allies.

Early assumptions make an ass out of you and me, but the Nara couldn’t help but get the strange feeling that Naruto could easily be the strongest ally that he could make to keep his team alive in these exams.

Shikamaru definitely was taking Naruto more seriously than any of the others, but that didn’t mean the rest of the Genin from Konoha hadn’t noticed the change in their blonde comrade.

“I was paying attention; it’s not my fault that you were paying attention to the wrong thing.” Naruto drawled out, but the bite was taken out of the comment by the grin he gave her afterwards. Better to present a united front then a fractured and broken one.

“It’s troublesome, but Naruto does have a point. He was watching our future opponents, That’s probably more effective then screaming our heads off, drawing the enemies attention, and then more than likely going to off to fan girl over the ‘ladies man’ over there.” Shikamaru spoke, rather bluntly in a drawling tone.

Naruto looked Shikamaru over. He seemed much the same as always, which wasn’t necessarily a bad thing. The Uzumaki had always appreciated Shikamaru’s brand of lazy bluntness.  With the added knowledge of Zabuza however, that appreciation that Naruto had quickly flickered into respect. Konohagakure was famous for its strong bloodlines, with their teamwork, but also for their incredibly strong clans. One of the clans that people in other villages most feared was the Nara. Despite how lazy they were, their mind was deadly… Moreover, a shinobi’s greatest weapon was his or her mind.

“Shika-chan! I’m surprised your lazy ass hasn’t gotten itself killed yet.”

“Naruto… You’ve changed a lot.” Shikamaru drawled, his slouched posture screaming of laziness, but his sharp eyes were piercing Naruto.

It put Naruto on edge. Thus far, he’d hidden the whole situation with Zabuza reasonably well. Perhaps the best chance that Naruto had of not being discovered when under a Nara’s sharp eye was the fact the Nara in question would probably find it far too troublesome to dig too deeply into just what was going on with the Uzumaki.

“He’s probably the same dumb ass that he’s always been.” A retort came in a growly voice; Naruto immediately knew who it was. An accurate term would probably be ‘rival’ but honestly, Naruto had moved past that. Still, Kiba was an amusing person, and he actually came up with rather witty responses when he put his pea-sized brain to it.

“Look who’s talking.” Naruto stated simply, retaking in his surroundings. The Uchiha was in quite the state, his fan girls standing a bit too close to him. Naruto couldn’t really bring himself to help the poor guy; he did it to himself with that damned attitude of his. Next to the Uchiha group was the Kiba group, which contained his two teammates, Hinata and Shino.

Hinata was also much the same as she was in the academy, pushing her fingers together shyly and not making eye contact with anyone.

Zabuza suddenly realized a something about the way the Hyuuga had been behaving toward Naruto in general. The girl had a crush on the Uzumaki… Suddenly Naruto felt incredibly awkward even looking at her. She was so little… It was just wrong to even think about an innocent little girl like that being attracted to him. Naruto quickly averted his eyes from her, and would continue to quickly glance away from her from then on.

Moving on…

Ino and Chouji also seemed pretty much the same as they’d always been. Chouji seemed a bit more in shape than before, there was a bit more maturity in him, but it was nothing major.

In these exams, only Shikamaru and Sasuke could really be a threat to him as far as the Konoha teams went.

“You know, you guys are drawing a lot of attention to yourselves, probably not something that the Rookie Genin should do.”

Naruto swung toward the new voice, rather shocked to find someone standing behind him. He quickly schooled his features from shocked to a more mild surprise mixed with a raised eyebrow, “You certainly have a point… Who are you exactly?”

As Naruto waited for a response, he surveyed the guy before him. His chakra wasn’t anything special now that Naruto was really looking at it… Nevertheless, the fact he’d been snuck up on was jarring. His control over chakra had improved to the point where his own sensing was no longer blocked out, a situation like this SHOULDN’T happen any longer, not even to purple wearing grey haired Genin that were most likely nothing to fear.

“Oh yeah, I forgot to introduce myself. My name is Kabuto, Kabuto Yakushi.”

Naruto felt weirdly tense around the guy, he couldn’t bring himself to relax.

Sasuke had noticed, and was more on guard then before, ditching the fan girls to stand more noticeably with the blonde, and Shikamaru was noting the situation carefully.

“Is there something that you wanted Kabuto-san?” Sasuke spoke, his eyes narrowed.

“No need for that look.” Kabuto said, holding his hands up giving an almost playful smile, “I’m not some suspicious person, I just saw that some fellow Konoha-nin were potentially putting themselves into a dangerous spot, and thought I’d try to give them some friendly advice. It you don’t want to hear what I have to say, I’ll leave.”

Naruto opened his mouth, ready to tell the guy to get the fuck out and that they didn’t need his help, when he was interrupted, “That’s nice of you Kabuto-san.  If you have information for us, does that mean you’ve taken the exams before?”

That fucking Sakura…

Kabuto rubbed the back of his head sheepishly, his glasses adding to the look, “Well… It’s actually my seventh time taking the test. Exams are held in Konoha twice a year.”

Damn, Naruto could feel his instincts itching at him. Seven times? Was that normal? Naruto didn’t know much about the tests, even with his past knowledge, but that seemed overly excessive and suspicious… Were his emotions blinding the way he was feeling about Kabuto? Damn… Naruto just couldn’t understand what to make of the guy.

The mind fuck was too strong.

Sasuke seemed to forget about Naruto’s attitude toward the Genin at this, thinking him too weak to pose a threat in lieu of the new information, “Do you have information on certain people?”

“Oh yeah, this time I came prepared for anything. Last thing that I want is to fail again… Is there someone in particular that you were looking for?”

“Rock Lee.”

Well, despite how much the guy through me off, no reason turn down potential important information, “The red head from the Suna team, those music note village Genin, and tell me about you, Kabuto… I’m interested.”

The question wasn’t posed innocently, but either the glasses wearing Genin either ignored it, or didn’t catch the under draft that Naruto was spouting.

“Well… Let’s see here. First up is Rock Lee, he’s a year older than you rookies are and trained by Gai. Wow, one of the top Jounin of the village, that’s impressive. His Taijutsu is off the charts for a Genin, if this exam was based off stats alone he’d certainly pass. Although the rest of his skills are low, way below average… Maybe I spoke too soon. He’s teammates with Tenten and wow, Rookie of the Year Neji Hyuuga. Together they completed 20 D-rank missions and 5 c-rank.” Kabuto finished, looking mildly impressed,

Why should he be? He was the one that gathered the information – therefore, being impressed by it was overly weird. It wasn’t the information gathering itself that was weird, hell; it was common for shinobi to horde information like that.

That damn itch again.

“Alright, now we’re getting fun. Red head with no name from Suna… Sabaku no Gaara. His team if Temari and Kankuro, all of them are extremely skilled, but Gaara especially stands out. His physical stats aren’t that high, but his Ninjutsu is noteworthy, well other skills are standard. The three of them are actually the sons and daughter of the Kazekage, and together they completed 13 D-rank, 8 C-rank, and 2 B-rank missions.” Kabuto’s eyes shot wide in surprise, “That shouldn’t be possible, he’s the same age as you guys, a Genin… They aren’t allowed to be on B-rank missions usually… Never mind the fact it says here that Gaara always returns from his missions without injury.”

Bloodline.

Missions B-rank and above without injury? That just bleeds the taste of bloodline. It was honestly the only thing that really made sense.

Naruto also noted the surprise Kabuto showed toward his own information again. Tch, this guy was playing it up somehow to them, or maybe he stole the information? The unease just wouldn’t go away.

“The Sound Genin, I believe you asked for next.” Kabuto cleared his throat and seemed to collect his thoughts, “They are from a relatively new village. Not much is known about them, other than the fact that they typically use some sort of sound as an attack. Hence, the name of their village, I suppose. This will be the first time the village ever sent their shinobi away to take a Genin exam.”

Kabuto paused for a moment, before giving the Genin watching him in rapt attention a little laugh, “As for me, my main avenue of skill is in Medical-Ninjutsu, I’m just average in everything else. My chakra stores are really low as well; it’s always been a problem for me. My team and I have done 57 D-rank and 8 C-rank missions.”

Naruto couldn’t exactly sense a lie, but he was still fucking unsettled. To be perfectly honest, he just wanted to leave the situation and never look at the glassed Genin again. Something about him… Was more than likely nothing? Honestly, if the actual Jounin around here couldn’t sense something wrong with the Genin before him, then Naruto was likely over reaching because of the fact he used to have better senses and now they were exchanged for something almost subpar in comparison. There wasn’t anything wrong with Kabuto.

There wasn’t.

His hand was twitching to reach for his weapon the longer he stood in the suspicious-not suspicious Genin’s presence, so Naruto just nodded his head and formed his expression to look thoughtful before he walked backward a bit, a ‘safe’ distance from the ‘threat’ and just watched.

Nara Shikamaru had caught it all, and damn was that Kabuto weird. He could understand why Naruto was so on edge, although the signs were so miniscule… Something was definitely off. The way that he was reacting to his own information, his attitude, and although having knowledge like this wouldn’t be all that weird in general, having it on several different villages was kind of out there...

It would be troublesome to go against someone like that. The situation had however, helped him understand Naruto much better. He would see how the blonde dealt with the first exam before he made his choice, but the most helpful ally would likely be the blonde – As he proved repeatedly.

Both of the thinking Genin jumped farther to attention the second that Kabuto was attacked by someone from the Sound Village.

He moved too quickly, but Naruto knew that he didn’t, it was in the Uzumaki’s head… Fuck, he just wanted to be away from that stupid Genin and not see him anymore. The guy was doing his fucking head in. If they were around each other too much longer, he might try to take the guys head just from annoyance.

It became more interesting – and infinitely less annoying, when despite the fact that Kabuto had a clean cut dodge, the Genin collapsed onto the floor and got sick. Before when Kabuto had been explaining about the Sound Ninja, he had said that they use sounds in their attacks. Naruto hadn’t seen anything like that before, but it was actually pretty damn impressive. Naruto reminded himself to get some earplugs should he have to face any of them on the actual battlefield.

“The Sound Village is gonna dominate this whole exam, weak little Leaf-Ninja like you don’t stand any chance against us. You’re spoiled brats, and it’s about time that someone taught you better.”

It wasn’t just the Sound Village Genin that seemed to agree with that, but various others from the exam room suddenly bore down on the Rookie Genin. Naruto narrowed his eyes at his opponents for a moment, wondering just what he should do.

He saw some of the rookies wavering in their determination. Especially the girls, although Naruto only glanced at Hinata for a millisecond.

“Actually, here’s how it’s going to be. You have nothing on me; I’m going to become Hokage someday… If any of you people in this exam get it n your tiny little heads to get in the way of that goal… I’ll kill you.”

He gave a sharp grin, followed by a deep chuckle as he bore down on his own Killing Intent, draping it over all the people who’d been glaring at the Konoha Genin. Suddenly that attention was placed on Naruto alone. Good, let them think that they could touch him. If he couldn’t beat them with raw power, he’d just throw sand in their eyes and kick them in their precious spots. After all, they threatened Naruto’s comrades… He was entitled to feeling a little bit protective.

“All you little brats need to settle down.” An older man said as he entered the room, a deep scowl painted on his face, before it transformed into an almost sadistic grin, “The exam is about to start after all. I’m your exam proctor, Ibiki Morino”

 

 

 

**Author's Note:**

> Leave me your thoughts! I'd love to try to work some of them into the actual story.


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